Smokers like this man outside the Safeway store at Webster and Geary Streets will no longer be able to buy smokes at Safeway or Costco in the city. The San Francisco, Calif. Board of Supervisors is voting Tuesday September 21, 2010 on a measure which would outlaw the sale of cigarettes in grocery or big box stores that have pharmacies like all Safeway stores.

Photo: Brant Ward, The Chronicle

Smokers like this man outside the Safeway store at Webster and...

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Safeway store manager Walter Soria unlocked the cigarette storage area at the Safeway at Webster and Geary Streets. The San Francisco, Calif. Board of Supervisors is voting Tuesday September 21, 2010 on a measure which would outlaw the sale of cigarettes in grocery or big box stores that have pharmacies like all Safeway stores.

Packs of cigarettes line the back wall of Charlie's, a corner store in the Western Addition, while just feet away sits a pharmacy with a scoreboard-like device flashing flu prevention tips.

It's a juxtaposition the San Francisco Board of Supervisors is expected to quash today as it votes on legislation to ban selling tobacco products in any stores containing pharmacies.

That means no more tossing a pack of cigarettes into the cart at Safeway or Costco - and, according to Charlie's owner Nick Shoman, the possible death of his family's 23-year-old business. Or at least its pharmacy, which is a money-loser, while cigarettes account for 8 percent of his profit.

And besides, he added, the legislation won't stop a single patron of his from smoking - a prediction loyal customers Nate Cochran, 48, and Rickey Jackson, 51, said is a sure bet.

"If I have to go to Timbuktu to get my cigarettes, I'll go to Timbuktu!" Jackson said.

"It won't change my habits - that's for sure," Cochran said as he slapped down cash in exchange for a pack of Newports and another of Kools. "Not one bit."

In 2008, San Francisco became the first city in the country to ban cigarette sales in drugstores, prompting a lawsuit from Walgreens saying it wasn't fair to allow grocery stores and big-box stores with pharmacies inside them to continue selling tobacco.

Dufty said he voted against the original ban because he thought it was unfair to single out Walgreens and Rite Aid, but is sponsoring the expansion because anti-smoking laws are proving to help curb tobacco use. The supervisors are expected to approve the legislation today on a first reading and finally pass it in two weeks; Mayor Gavin Newsom has said he will sign it.

The current ban applies to 60 drugstores, and the expansion would include another 14 with Safeway making up nine of them. Safeway has suggested changes to the legislation including paying for an educational anti-smoking campaign instead of being included in the ban or excluding stores where pharmacies make up a small fraction of the floor space.

Susan Houghton, spokeswoman for Safeway, wouldn't say how much money the chain makes from tobacco products, but said all its stores keep cigarettes in locked cases so minors can't access them.

"We certainly are not promoting tobacco use, but we do believe there's a freedom-of-choice issue," she said, adding that the legislation is one in a string including banning plastic bags and levying an alcohol fee that make it increasingly hard to do business in the city. (Newsom has vowed to veto the alcohol fee.)

Being on the cutting edge is good if it means sending the right message about the danger of cigarettes, said Mitch Katz, director of the city's health department. He doesn't expect the law to persuade any current smokers to quit, but said it might prevent youths from starting.

"When you sell tobacco in a pharmacy, it seems like it might not be so bad," he said. "I would much rather people be buying their cigarettes in connection to alcohol than be buying their cigarettes in connection to health-promoting medications."

Cigarettes are hardly the only vices for sale at Safeway or stores like Charlie's. At the latter - at 9 a.m. Monday - a string of customers bought a case of beer, lottery tickets, packaged pastries and a bag of chips.

"The big difference is that tobacco is the one substance for which there is no safe amount to use," Katz said.

But Shoman, Charlie's owner, said he can't afford to keep the pharmacy and lose the cigarettes. However, he may be able to get around the law by dividing the pharmacy from the main store and having separate entrances. Otherwise, he'll have to shut the pharmacy - or the whole store.

"This will be the last business I run in San Francisco," he said. "What's next? Nothing surprises me anymore."